Bruny Island Wildlife

The Bruny Island Cruises 3 hour eco-cruise travels along the South Bruny Island coastline which is part of the South Bruny National Park. This area is abundant in native sea and coastal wildlife including mammals and birds.

Mammals

The mammals frequenting Bruny Island’s water and the coastal areas include the Australian fur seal, the bottled-nosed and common dolphins, humpback whales, leopard seals, New Zealand fur seals, pilot whales, southern elephant seal and southern right whale. (Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife, 2003)

Australian Fur Seal

One of the mammals which you are most likely to see on the Bruny Island Cruises eco-cruise is the Australian Fur Seal which use the rocks at The Friars, rocks off the coastline that are home to up to 1000 seals, called a ‘haul-out’.

Dolphins

Another mammal very common among the waters of Bruny Island is the dolphin, specifically the Common dolphin and Bottle-nosed dolphin.

These friendly creatures travel in pods and one of their favourite pastimes is to swim around and on the bow wave of the Bruny Island Cruises boats.

Whales

It is common during the whale migrating seasons, May – July and September – November, to observe humpback or southern right whales. It is also possible that you will come across other less common whales such as the Pygmy right whale, Minke Whale and the Killer whale otherwise known as the orca.

Birds

One of the reasons South Bruny National Park was created in 1997 was due to its abundant birdlife. Some of the most common seabirds that are viewed on the Bruny Island Cruises eco-cruise are the Shy albatross, Short-tailed shearwater, common diving-petrel, Australasian gannet, black-faced cormorant, crested term, sooty oystercatcher and the White-faced heron.

The Bruny Island coastline are also the home to a number of birds of prey such as the White-bellied sea-eagle, Wedge-tailed eagle and Peregrine falcon.